Rotary engine.



I. ALFORD.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.15, 1911.

Patented July 23, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH cc.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

I. ALFORD.

ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED 11011.15, 1911.

. 1,033,514. 7 Patented July 23,1912.

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I I. ALFORD.

, ROTARY ENGINE. Y

, 1 1,033,5 14:. Patented July 23,1912.

- a sHEBTs-sHBBTa wi tneooeo UNITED sTArEs' PATENT OFFICE. I

ISAAC ALFORID, or PERU, Kansas.

ROTARY ENGINE.-

Application filed November 15, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC ALFoRD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Peru, in the county of Chautauqua, State of Kansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in fluid pressureengines and more especially to rotary engines in which the piston iskeyed upon and rotates the shaft by which the power generated by theengine is supplied and the object of my invention is to improve theconstruction and increase the efliciency of engines of the abovedescribed type.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a rotary engine inwhich the piston is acted upon by the power generating fluid at oppositepoints and in such a manner that the engine may be readily reversed. Toaccomplish this I provide a cylinder having a plurality of portsarranged in spaced pairs, one port of each pair being adapted to act asan exhaust port for one direction of the engine and as an inlet portwhen the engine is reversed, while the other port acts as an inlet portfor the forward rotation of the engine and as an exhaust port when theengine is reversed. I also provide a piston having a plurality of headsand a corresponding plurality of intermediate recesses or fluidreceiving pockets. The cylinder is provided between the ports of eachpair of ports with a radially movable abutment adapted at all times tobear against the working face of the piston and a further object of myinvention is therefore to provide means whereby said abutments will bemoved radially by the direct action of the piston upon them without theintercession of tension springs or gearing hitherto employed.

ith these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings which show apreferred embodiment of my device and then specifically pointed out inthe claims which are attached to and form a part of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my engine. Fig. 2 is arear elevation. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1912.

Serial No. 660,477.

line 8-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 44E ofFig. 3.

Referring more specifically to the draw ings, in which similar referencenumerals designate corresponding parts throughout, 10 designates thebase or support of my engine which is preferably formed of metal andupon which is mounted the cylinder 12 through which extends therotatable shaft 11 which extends longitudinally through the cylinder 12and upon which is keyed the piston 13. As best shown in Fig. 4 thispiston is of a type commonly met with in engines of this characterhaving threeheads 14 and three intermediate recesses or fluid receivingpockets 15, the outer periphery of said piston being so formed that thediameter of the piston taken anywhere through its center ofrotation isconstant while the length of the radii is different at diflerent points.The piston is so proportioned that its heads engage closely against theinner face of the cylinder and in order to insure 'a fluid proof jointbetween said heads and the cylinder I have provided each of the headswith a longitudinally extending channel 16 in which is seated a springpressed packing bar 17 which is pressed outwardly by its springs toconstantly engage with the inner face of the cylinder.

The cylinder comprises the cylinder body proper 12 and the cylinderheads 18 and 19 which are firmly bolted to the body, suitable packingrings 20 being interposed to form a fluid proof joint. Each of thecylinder heads 18 and 19 is provided with a fluid proof bearing 21 inwhich the shaft ll-is journaled and each head is provided with adiametrically extending slot 21 in which is slidably mounted a slide 22,said slides being provided centrally with longitudinally extending slots23 through which the shaft passes, whereby the slides are free toreciprocate in the slots. These slides extend in parallel spacedrelation to eachother and are connected at their ends by metallicabutments 24L and 24: the inner faces of which extend in parallel spacedrelation and at a distance apart equal to the diameter of the pistonwhereby they closely engage against the peripheral face of the same atall times, each of the abutments being provided with a springpressedpacking bar 25 to'insure a close bearing between the two. As shown thecylinder is thickened opposite each of these abutments and is recessedto receive either of the abutments as it is forced outwardly by theaction of the piston. The slides 23 have their inner faces flush withthe inner faces of the cylinder heads and therefore coact with thelatter to form an uninterrupted bearing surface for the ends of thepiston. Each cylinder head is further provided with a second slot 26which extends at right angles to the slot 21 and between said slot andthe outer face of the cylinder head, said latter slots at their outerends opening inwardly through the cylinder heads, and slidably mountedin these slots are slides 27 similar to the slides 22 and slot-ted as at27 for the passage of the shaft 11. The ends of the slides 27 are joinedby abutments 28 and 28 similar to the abutments 24 and 24 and thecylinder adjacent said abutments is also thickened and re cessecl toreceive either abutment as it is forced outwardly. As will be readilyseen each of the above described abutments will constantly engageagainst the peripheral face of the piston, the outward forcing of anyone of the abutments under pressure of one of the pistons causing thereciprocation of its slides and the consequent inward movement of theopposite abutment. The recessed portions of the cylinder through whichthe abutments move are provided with roller bearings 29 which bear uponeither side of each of the abutments and which not only serve to preventthe abut ments from binding in their passage through the recesses butalso form a fluid proof bearing between the two. Each of the thickenedportions of the cylinder is provided with a fluid receiving chest 30which is closed by a cap 81 and the operating fluid is admitted to eachchest through a valve 32 of the turn plug type, the operating stem 33 ofwhich extends outwardly beyond one end of the cylinder and is providedwith a bevel gear 34. The shaft 11 is provided with a bevel gear 35 anda shaft 86 provided at each end with bevel gears 37 and 38 are journaledin suitable bearings carried by the cylinder head 19, their gears 37meshing with the gear 35 and their gears 38 meshing with the gears 34 ofthe valve, said gears being so proportioned that the valves are turnedthree times for one rotation of the shaft 11.

Positioned one upon each side of each of the fluid chests 30 are valvechambers 89 and 40, said valve chambers being connected with the chestsby passages 41 and 42 respectively, with the bore of the cylinder bypassages 48 and 44 respectively and with the outer air by passages 45and 46 respectively. Positioned in each of these valve chambers is athree-way valve 47 by means of which communication may be made eitherbetween the cylinder and the chest or between the cylinder and the outerair. By this means either valve may act as an inlet valve or as anexhaust valve as demanded by circumstances. The valve stems 47 of thevalves 47 are extended beyond the forward end of the cylinder and areprovided with gears 48 which mesh with a gear 49 which is rotatablymounted upon the shaft 11 and which is provided with a hand lever 50having a spring pressed pawl 51 adapted to engage with the teeth of asector rack 52. As will be readily seen the gear 49 may be swung bymeans of the lever to open and close the valves 47 and each pair ofvalves 47 is so arranged that when one is open the other will be closed.Because of this one of each pair of said valves may be used as an inletvalve while the other is employed as an outlet or exhaust valve. Thepassages 43 communicate with the cylinder upon one side of the abutmentswhile the passages 44 com municate with the cylinder upon the oppositeside of the abutment and it therefore follows that when one set of thevalves 47 are employed as inlet valves the piston will rotate in onedirection and that when the other set of the valves 47 is employed asinlet valves the piston will be driven in the opposite direction. Theengine therefore can be readily reversed by a swinging of the hand lever50. Each of the valves 32 is so arranged with respect to the piston thatit may be opened immediately after the passing of one of the pistonheads beyond its corresponding abutment and will be closed immediatelyafter said piston head passes the next adjacent abutment.

In operation suppose the piston in the position shown in Fig. 4 of thedrawings and to be rotated in the direction of the arrow, then thepassages 44 are acting as in let ports while the passages 43 are actingas exhaust ports. The valve 32 adjacent the abutment 28 is about toopen, the valve adjacent the abutment 28 is fully opened, the valveadjacent the abutment 24 is about to close and the valve adjacent theabutment 24 is open. It will thus be seen that pressure is constantlyapplied to two adjacent pockets of the piston simultaneously, thus doingaway with all dead centers and permitting the ready starting of theengine irrespective of the position of the piston. When it is desired toreverse the engine the valves 32 are reversed by means of the hand.lever, when the valves 47, which were previously the exhaust valvesbecome the inlet valves, and those which were previously the inletvalves become the exhaust valves, the piston therefore being revolved inthe opposite direction.

It will thus be apparent that I have provided an extremely simple andeflicient form of fluid pressure engine of the rotary type and one inwhich all dead centers are avoided. It will further be apparent that Ihave provided means for readily reversing the engine, said meansutilizing the inlet valves as exhaust valves when the engine is reversedand the exhaust valves as inlet valves. I have also provided means foractuating the abutments to constantly maintain them in active position,said means not requiring the use of springs or of gearing such as iscommonly employed for this purpose.

It will of course be understood that minor changes in details ofconstruction may be made if desired without departing from the spirit ofmy invention in the slightest degree.

hat I claim is:

l. A rotary engine, a cylinder having a plurality of spaced fluid chestsand a pair of valve chambers adjacent each of said chests, each of saidvalve chambers communicating respectively with its fluid chest, thecylinder bore, and the atmosphere, three-Way valves in said valvechambers, a multiple headed piston in the cylinder bore, a plurality ofabutments bearing against said piston and mounted for radial movement,each of said three-way valves having a valve stem, gears carried by saidvalve stems, a gear mounted for rotation and meshing with said valvestem gears, means for manually rotating said latter gear, supply valvesfor said fluid chests, and means operable by the piston for opening andclosing said supply valve.

2. In a rotary engine, a cylinder having a plurality of spaced fluidchests and a pair of valve chambers adjacent each of said chests, eachof said valve chambers communicating respectively with its fluid chest,the cylinder bore, and the atmosphere, threeway valves in said valvechambers, means for actuating all of said three-way valvessimultaneously, a multiple headed piston in the cylinder bore, aplurality of abutments bearing against said piston and mounted forradial movement, supply valves for said fluid chests, valve stems forsaid supply valves, bevel gears carried by said valve stems, a bevelgear rotatable by the piston, and means coacting bet-ween said latterbevel gear and the bevel gears of the valve stems to open and close saidsupply valves.

3. In a rotary engine, a multiple headed piston, a cylinder for saidpiston having a plurality of diametrically opposed spaced apart pairs offluid chests, a plurality of abutments bearing against said piston andmounted for radial movement toward and away from said chests, cylinderheads for said cylinder, a plurality of slides reciprocally mounted insaid cylinder heads and extending diametrically thereof, each of saidslides having its ends secured to diametrically disposed abutmentswhereby outward movement of one abutment will cause inward movement ofthe opposed abutment, a plurality of valve chambers formed in saidcylinder one adjacent each side of each abutment, each of said valvechambers communicating with a fluid chest, the cylinder bore, and theatmosphere, three-way valves in said valve chambers, means for actuatingall of said three-way valves simultaneously,

supply valves for said fluid chests, and means operable by the pistonfor opening and closing said supply valves.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of twoWitnesses.

ISAAC ALFORD. Witnesses C. K. DRU'LEY, R. O. ADAMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

